He worked on Jongin for three long weeks.

First, he had to create his face. The process was long, but he carefully and slowly engraved every little detail on the mould as slowly as possible. When he had the actual face ready, he started coloring it; he didn't need photos, he still remembered clearly everything about Jongin. He chose thoroughly every single color for the skin, the lips, the eyebrows, the slight bags under his eyes. He glued the eyelashes and looked at his work: everything had to be perfect; Jongin was going to be his best doll he had ever created.

With a satisfied sigh, he started working on the eyes. Once again, he didn't need a photo for reference; he still remembered them, since he had always looked into those shining eyes, full of love and longing for him. After the eyes, he worked on his hair, and he used a wig with dark and slightly wavy hair. When he finished the face he realized how much he missed Jongin; he missed him so much that he couldn't forget every small particular of his body.

Heck, he could remember clearly his voice, too!

He sighed heavily and continued with his creation. His eyes were stinging, and he was trying hard not to start crying. The face took a lot of time, and the rest of the body was quite simple to do. He didn't waste any time, and he passed long days in the workshop in order to finish the doll as soon as possible. Three weeks after Sehun's request, he finished the doll.

Jongin still didn't look human, but Kyungsoo knew that he had wait for another night for that. "What's that?" Tao asked, as he brushed his fingers on the new doll's face. "It's just a doll." Kyungsoo answered quickly. He didn't want to explain further, after all the doll was going to become a 'human'.

When he returned to the workshop the day after that, Kyungsoo couldn't help but gasp when he saw Jongin looking around with a blank look. He slowly walked towards the doll and stopped. He looked the same. He looked exactly the same, and he had even made him wear the same clothes Jongin used to wear. The doll stared at him and waited for something, but Kyungsoo just started crying. He was glad that Sehun wasn't there yet, because so he had some time for himself. The black-haired man hugged tightly his creation and kept sobbing for a long minute.

The doll was cold, and that was the only thing that wasn't like the real Jongin. His dead boyfriend's skin was always warm, and Kyungsoo knew that a doll couldn't replace completely someone. It was just a doll. He forced himself to calm down and backed away, wiping away his tears. "Your name is Jongin. Repeat it." He whispered, even if he wasn't ready to hear the doll's voice.

"Jongin. I'm Jongin." Kyungsoo took a deep breath as another tear fell. The voice was just like he remembered. "You have to call me Kyungsoo." He weakly muttered. The doll nodded, hearing the other's wavering voice. "Okay, Kyungsoo." The man looked up and stared into Jongin's empty eyes, his heart beating fast and new tears falling on his red cheeks. Kyungsoo cupped the doll's face and slowly pressed his lips on Jongin's ones, savoring the moment. The doll didn't kiss him back, and did nothing when his creator backed away. "You can't tell anyone about our kiss, okay?"
Jongin nodded again, and in that second, Sehun arrived in the shop. Kyungsoo quickly wiped away his tears and greeted his co-worker. "Jongin?" The younger man whispered, as he widened his eyes. "Yes?" The doll answered immediately. Sehun hugged him, as he burst in tears with a huge smile on his lips. "Jongin! Oh, Jongin!" The younger man kissed the doll on his cheeks and chuckled. "Call me Sehun!" He chirped. His doll nodded and slowly repeated his name. Kyungsoo sighed and lowered his gaze with a sad smile.

"Sehun, why don't you take a day off? I know you won't be able to work with him around." He whispered. His co-worker gasped and then clasped their hands together. "Are you serious? Thank you, Kyungsoo! I promise I'll work even harder tomorrow!" Sehun and Jongin quickly disappeared as they run outside the shop, the young man shouting his goodbyes as he clutched at the doll's hand. Kyungsoo waved at them, but he fell on the ground the moment the couple disappeared from his sight. Tao sat next to him and patted his back as Kyungsoo started crying hard. His sobs worsened when the doll started talking to him. "It's okay! Love should hurt. I'll sing for you, so you won't feel sad anymore." Tao started singing just like when he had found Kyungsoo crying in his sleep, and the man actually calmed down.

He slowly sat and rested his head on the doll's shoulder, as he closed his eyes. Where did Tao learn those words? Surely he knew how to comfort him just because Mrs. Huang had cried a lot, but it felt like the doll had to watch sappy romance movies where those kind of words where often said. "You can't tell anyone that I'm sad." Kyungsoo mumbled weakly. Tao stopped singing and he smiled rather softly. "Okay, I promise I'll keep quiet." He answered as he hugged his creator. Kyungsoo sighed and hid his face on Tao's chest; he felt wrong for kissing a doll, and yet he wanted more. Seeing Jongin, hearing his voice… It hurt more than he had thought of. He shouldn't have kissed him, but he did because his heart was hurting way too much; he couldn't bear that kind of pain, and he knew his life was going to be more than just difficult.

Probably Sehun was going to hug Jongin all the time, and Kyungsoo was going to watch them and suffer in silence. He did a horrible mistake: he had told Sehun he had forgotten about Jongin. Sadly, it wasn't true; a lot of time had passed, and yet Kyungsoo found hard to forget about that smile and those eyes. Jongin was too young when he died, and he had left a deep, fresh wound on Kyungsoo's weak heart. A wound way too deep to be healed with just the help of time.

Sehun kept working with Jongin next to him. Within a day, the doll had learnt every little thing Jongin used to do: the way he used to laugh, the way he used to frown. Everything, even the way the doll used his words were now the same as Jongin. Within a few days, Jongin had learnt to say 'I love you' to Sehun, to kiss him on his lips, to hug him tightly and lovingly. "You're the perfect couple." Kyungsoo told them one day, with shaky, unsure voice and shining eyes, full of unshed tears. Sehun smiled and blushed, while Jongin simply answered with a muttered 'thank you, Kyungsoo'.

It was difficult to see the doll all alone; Sehun always wanted to be next to him. Kyungsoo just wanted them to stop with those kisses and satisfied sighs. At least Tao's presence made everything better: the doll was always smiling sweetly and having a nice word for everybody. There was something off with him, thought; Tao had the habit to take his folder and stare at the photos for a long time. It wasn't easy to distract him, and Kyungsoo found entertainment in making him do silly things.

He couldn't help but cry during the night, and muffle his sobs in his soft pillow. It was even harder when it was Jongin who comforted him, with whispered words and shallow kisses on his wet cheeks. "I love you." Kyungsoo kept muttering to him during those nights. "I still love you." Jongin always smiled and caressed his head. "I love you, too." However, he answered like that just because Sehun taught him to. Kyungsoo, hearing those words, couldn't help but cry harder; it always hurt to hear the same phrase said to someone else.

Things got worse when a young blond man arrived at the shop with a confused look. "My friends told me to visit this place; they wanted me to buy a doll for myself." He explained, with unsure tone. Kyungsoo just smiled – that time a real smile – and nodded. "Of course, why don't you come with me in the workshop? Maybe you're going to make up your mind." The man was tall, and the artist was sure he had already seen him somewhere; his thoughts were quickly interrupted by Tao, who crushed against Kyungsoo and squeaked.

The young artist huffed and shooed the doll away, but Tao didn't move. "Oh… Is this a doll?" The man asked, both quite surprised and suddenly interested. Kyungsoo sighed and nodded. "Yes, but his previous owners returned him. I can sell him for half the price, if you want him." The man stared at Tao for a long minute, before he hummed and nodded. "It might be a good idea." The doll blinked cutely and smiled.

"Are you going to be my master?" He asked with hope in his voice. The tall man shrugged and looked at Kyungsoo. "I feel like I have already seen him before." The artist sighed and glanced away, feeling bad for the real Tao. Kyungsoo still didn't know how the boy had died, he thought that maybe it was because of an illness. From what he had read about him, Tao's life had been full of things to do and full of disappointments.

His parents had wanted him to be the best in everything, and that hurt the young man; he was a bird in a cage, he couldn't fly. That was why Kyungsoo thought that Tao had died of illness, because his body reacted in the wrong way with those pressures and the stress. The doll, fortunately, didn't remember anything from Tao's life; he could read those journals and act in base of what was written there, but nothing more than that. It was just a doll, after all, Kyungsoo didn't expect much from him.

What he didn't understand was where he had already seen the tall man; as he glanced at him, he couldn't help but feel like Tao was the perfect doll for him. "Tao is a gentle doll, he will help you. Keep him for a week and then return here; if you really want him to stay with you, you will pay me. How does it sound?"  The tall man stared at him, surprised, and he slowly nodded; the doll smiled and took the man's hand. "How should I call you, mister?"

The other smiled back, suddenly flustered. "Call me Wu Fan."

Kyungsoo felt even worse in that moment, since Tao wasn't there anymore with him. Sehun was resting together with Jongin not far from him, with his head on the doll's shoulder. "It feels a bit empty without Tao; why did you give him to someone?" The younger man asked quietly. Kyungsoo kept silent as he worked on another doll's face. Of course Sehun didn't miss Tao, he had Jongin; how stupid, how arrogant! He was a pretender! Kyungsoo had never felt so angry before. Just watching his co-worker being cute and lovely with Jongin – a doll! – made him sick.

Jongin had died when he was his lover! His own, not Sehun's one! "You won't miss him." He replied with a grunt. He was now frowning hard, his cheeks were red just like his eyes; he wanted to cry, but he didn't have anyone there to help him. Sehun, behind him, shrugged. "I guess so. Listen, I have to go away for a couple of weeks, but I can't bring Jongin with me. Can you keep him away from trouble?" Kyungsoo widened his eyes; that was his chance! His chance to forget, his change to get away from everything. Staying with Jongin was going to help him to remember that his real lover was now dead. He had no real reason to get upset with Sehun.

"Of course I can! It's not a problem!" He answered with a huge smile on his lips. Kyungsoo suddenly felt hopeful and incredibly stupid: during those days, he had done nothing but cry, thinking he was the victim in that game. It was his fault if he had accepted to make a doll that resembled Jongin; after all, he could have simply refused to do it. With Jongin's help, he was going to understand what a real doll was. Certainly, he wasn't going to discover the secrets behind his creations in just a couple of weeks, but he knew it was enough to get somewhere.

"Don't worry, Sehun." Kyungsoo reassured his friend. "It won't happen anything, we'll be alright."

He didn't know how wrong he was.

Okay, this time I've decided that next chapter is going to be the last, for real!

I'm really sorry to read those comments. If I tagged this fic sekai and kaisoo it's because there are both pairings...

Anyway I have already planned the end, and I think I might write a spin-off if someone likes Kris/Tao...
Next chapter will be full of angst and tears (hopefully, not yours)!

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! ^^